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<pre>Interesting statistics. Besides Japan, anyone has figures for olive oil
consumption in the wealthier Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, South
Korea and Hongkong? Thanks.

----- Original Message -----
From: syrien_paris <syrie@multimania.com>
To: <oliveoil@onelist.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 07, 1999 9:57 PM
Subject: [OliveOil] syria


>From: "syrien_paris" <syrie@multimania.com>
>
>
>
>hello,
>
>
>Syrian Arab News Agency said the Syrian production of olive increased
>from 117 thousand tons at 1971 to 650 thousand tons at 1996, at the
>same period, the Syrian production of olive oil increased from 19
>thousand tons (1971) to 125 thousand tons.
>The Syrian population stood at 16,673,282 (July 1998 est.)
>Each Syrian consumes around 8 liters of olive oil per year.
>
>The European Union (EU) is, by far, the largest olive oil producer and
>consumer in the world. Olive oil consumption in the EU in 1996/97 stood
>at 1 620 000 tonnes, out of a world figure of some 2 320 000 tonnes.
>
>The producer Member States are, in decreasing order of importance,
>Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and France. In 1995, the area under
>olive groves in the EU was almost 4.5 million hectares, of which 50%
>were in Spain and 25% in Italy.
>
>Olive cultivation, which is widespread throughout the Mediterranean
>region, is important both to the rural economy and to the environmental
>balance of the producing regions. The EU has approximately 2 240 000
>producers, including 850 000 in Italy, 780 000 in Greece and 500 000 in
>Spain. Portugal and France, as smaller producers, have 90 000 and 20
>000 respectively.
>
>World production in 1996/97 is expected to total some 2.8 million
>tonnes with 70% of this being of Community origin. The remainder comes
>chiefly from Tunisia, Turkey, Syria and Morocco whose combined output
>is around 730 000 tonnes. Community production is at the forefront,
>therefore, of the fluctuating world olive oil market.
>
>The fact that the EU is self-sufficient in olive oil, however, does not
>mean that it does not engage in trade. Imports in 1996/97 stood at
>around 150 000 tonnes while exports were 250 000 tonnes. The other
>major exporters are Tunisia (115 000 tonnes), Turkey (40 000 tonnes)
>and Morocco (35 000 tonnes) while the main importers include the United
>States (140 000 tonnes), Japan (26 000 tonnes) and Canada (19 000
>tonnes).
>
>The question are :
>Why the olive oil consumption is decreasing in Syria ?
>Price , competition from other oils ,
>Is Syria able to export its olive oil or olives ?
>
>Regards
>
>souhair
>
>Read related messages from the original newsgroup:
>http://decaf.talkway.com/cgi-bin/cgi....culture.syria
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</pre>
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